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Meeting a Legend

I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Al in 2007. I was a graduate student, doing a PhD on the early years of Entertainment Tonight. After researching all I could about the program, I realized I needed to interview the man himself if I was going to provide a true story of the ‘most watched entertainment news program of all time.’ I wondered how I would find him, someone with his resume and celebrity certainly wouldn’t be easy to connect with … or so I thought, until I looked in the Honolulu White pages and found an Al Masini listed. I called the number and found myself talking with the person I hadn’t ever expected to reach.

Out of the generostiy of his heart, he allowed me to come to Hawaii and into his beautiful home, meeting his beautiful Charlyn in the process. There, he spent two days with me, recounting the story of his life and his time and experiences with Entertainment Tonight. It was one of the most interesting, intriguing and wonderful interviews I’ve ever done. I learned more about him in that time than I expected and to this day I can’t read over our interview without smiling or laughing at one of his (numerous) stories or memories.

He lived an extraordinary life — and I only got to experience a small part of it. But those two days I spent with Al are ones I’ll never forget. He made the day (and the dissertation) of an idealistic graduate student…who now has her PhD and is happily teaching others about the television business and industry. And a lot of what I talk about — I learned from Al. Thanks Al, you won’t be forgotten.
Sara Magee
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